Shiner Oktoberfest brewed by the Spoetzl Brewery - Shiner, Texas

This festive
Marzen-style seasonal has a deep amber color and slightly toasted flavor.
The initial rich malty aroma and sweetness fades to a moderately dry, hoppy
finish. Shiner Okoberfest is made with the highest-quality Two-Row Barley,
Munich and Caramel malts, along with German-grown Hallertau Tradition and
Hersbrucker hops. Winner of a Gold Medal at the 2012 Great American Beer
Festival.

Shiner Okotoberfest Story
First introduced to the Shiner family as our 96 Anniversary Brew, this Marzen-style
brew has regained popularity among Shiner and Oktoberfest drinkers alike. It’s
connection to tradition and celebration makes it a great fit for the Shiner
seasonal portfolio.
Food Pairing:
Best when served with meaty dishes like sausage and roasted chicken, fresh,
creamy cheeses, pasta with white sauces and seafood.

Beer Review by Beer Advocate
The beer is served in a pint glass from a 12 oz botttle. Its a brilliantly clear
deep amber light copper with beautiful golden notes. There is a persistent off
white head that leaves a lace on the glass.

The aroma is all rich pilsner, munich and vienna malt - mmmm! its very clean -
no esters or diacetyl. It is toasty and bready and bisquity. Uniquely and
pleasantly for a an American made Oktoberfest, there is is no hop aroma and
pretty much no caramel aroma.

The flavor is sweet and malty at the sip, but not at all caramelly. It quickly
gives way to an intensely malty toasty flavor - lots of bisquit, toast, a touch
of nuttiness, and big continental malt flavor. The beer is all about malt, all
the way through. The swallow is remarkably dry for the maltiness. The finish is
malty and toasty but delicious and balanced.

The mouthfeel is medium with a medium creamy body and full but creamy
carbonation and no astringency.

Holy cow. I've always had a soft spot for Shiner beers. Ive been to the brewery
and to Shiner (pop 2000) and have family there. But I have to be honest - I did
not expect much from this beer, considering some of the other seasonals they've
produced and considering the general quality of American Oktoberfests.. But wow!
This is a tribute to the brewmaster. He or she nailed it. This is, at heart, a
restrained beer. But at heart, this is a restrained style. It is meant to be
rich and flavorful, but light, fairly dry and supremely drinkable. This
beer....Lots of rich malt, no caramel or cloying sweetness, no hops. Just a
clean malty lager, the way the good lord, and King Ludwig of Bavaria, intended.

Spoetzl Brewery History
Spoetzl was founded in 1909, and is the oldest independent brewery in Texas. A
group of businessmen incorporated Shiner Brewing Association and placed Herman
Weiss in as the company's first brewmaster. In 1914 a German immigrant brewer
named Kosmas Spoetzl co-leased with Oswald Petzold with an option to buy in
1915. Spoetzl had attended brewmaster's school and apprenticed for three years
in Germany, worked for eight years at the Pyramids Brewery in Cairo, Egypt, and
then worked in Canada. He moved to San Antonio in search of a better climate for
his health, bringing with him a family recipe for a Bavarian beer made from
malted barley and hops.

During Prohibition, Kosmas Spoetzl kept the brewery afloat by selling ice and
making near beer. After Prohibition only five of the original 13 Texas breweries
were still intact. When the Prohibition laws were repealed larger beer plants,
such as Anheuser-Busch, moved to Texas making life harder on the smaller
independent breweries, but Spoetzl kept things small and simple never going more
than 70 miles for business.

In the 1970s and 1980s the brewery's Shiner Beer and Shiner Bock had less than 1
percent of the Texas market. In 1983 Spoetzl produced 60,000 barrels of beer; in
1990 only 36,000. Sales improved after Carlos Alvarez of San Antonio acquired
the brewery in 1989: Production grew to 100,000 barrels in 1994, and over the
next ten years, production nearly tripled.
As of 2011, it was the fourth-largest craft brewery and tenth-largest overall
brewery in the United States.